Karim El-Bar
January 25, 2021•Update: January 25, 2021
LONDON
Shaken by five years of tumult, Britain now faces a choice between being a “reformed state and a failed state,” according to a former Labour prime minister.
“Battered by Covid-19, threatened by nationalism, and uncertain what the promise of a post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ adds up to, the United Kingdom must urgently rediscover what holds it together and sort out what is driving us apart,” Gordon Brown wrote in a guest column in the Daily Telegraph published Sunday.
Calling the UK the world’s “most successful experiment in multinational living,” he said it now faces its greatest threat in 300 years because the public feel that the government “does not fully understand the country it is supposed to govern.”
Brown, who is himself Scottish, highlighted Scotland and its potential independence as the most immediate threat to the end of the United Kingdom. On Sunday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed to hold an advisory independence referendum if her party wins regional parliamentary elections this May.
Brown wrote: “Nearly half of all Scots who have a view believe (against all the evidence) that Scotland would be better off economically independent, and they feel that the Union undermines Scotland's distinctive identity.”
England’s big cities such as Liverpool and Bristol, as well as other members of the UK such as Wales, are also increasingly frustrated with what they see as an “insensitive, out of touch and over-centralised centre,” he warned.
“But it’s not leaders’ opinions that should worry us most but the drift in public opinion. ‘Whoever in London thought of that?' is a common refrain, reflecting the frustration of people in outlying communities who feel they are the forgotten men and women, virtually invisible to Whitehall,” he said, referring to the central government.
The former prime minister then laid out potential solutions, including dealing with social and economic inequality and “a new inclusiveness at the heart of government; and a clarity about the purposes of the United Kingdom itself.”
He called on current Prime Minister Boris Johnson to implement his campaign pledge to set up a commission on democracy that would review the way the UK is governed.
“I believe the choice is now between a reformed state and a failed state,” said Brown.
He added that Johnson should set up a “Forum of the Nations and Regions” that brings leaders of the devolved national administrations and mayors of regional metropolitan cities together with Johnson on a regular basis.
Additionally, Brown said the commission on democracy should be complemented by Johnson setting up “Citizens’ Assemblies” in each region and nation “so that he can listen to what the public are saying.”
Brown warned against relying on history alone, and stressed the importance of everyday institutions that bind the union together, saying: “Yes, we can appeal to history, tradition, culture and the longevity of our institutions, but it is through a focus on the everyday benefits of cooperation and reciprocity, represented by, for example, the National Health Service and our Armed Forces, and the sentiments that inspire them, solidarity and empathy, that we demonstrate the real glue that today brings four distinctive nations and many diverse regions together.”
Brown was British prime minister and Labour Party leader between 2007 and 2010.
